Nation IN BRIEF : WISCONSIN : Multiple Personality Rape Case Dropped

A judge dismissed charges against a man accused of sexually assaulting a woman with 46 personalities. Prosecutor Joseph Paulus had asked that Mark Peterson, 29, not be retried because it might be harmful to the victim. Circuit Judge Robert Hawley in Oshkosh, Wis., earlier had overturned Peterson's Nov. 8 conviction because the defense had not been allowed to have a psychiatrist examine the woman before the trial. "The jury verdict, although now set aside on a legal technicality, sent a strong message to the community that mentally ill individuals in our society must be protected from those who prey upon them," Paulus said.